Earlier this year, I purchased The Writer’s Toolbox, made by Jamie Cat Callan, as I wanted to get back into coming up with new ideas for stories and putting them into words. I have thus come up with the idea of using his toolbox for some of my blog posts, to create extracts or beginnings for potential stories. The toolbox contains a number of activities to help with writer’s block or to help those struggling to get a story started. Due to the nature of the activities within this toolbox, some of the ideas might be a bit nonsensical, but I think that it would be a fun idea to see what these activities drive me to come up with.
The Writer’s Toolbox: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Writers-Toolbox-Jamie-Cat-Callan/dp/0811854299/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1508092346&sr=1-1&keywords=writers+toolbox
First Sentence stick: “My mother was doing that thing she did. That thing with the rag in the sink.”
Whenever I asked her what she was doing, she would just say “Never mind what I’m doing, Marie” before telling me to carry on with whatever it was I was meant to be doing. Homework, my chores, looking after my baby sister, Lucy. I could never understand why my mother would scrub so vigorously at nothing. We had done the dishes an hour ago, what else was there to clean? The sink was too tall for me to ever take a look without my mother scolding me and sending me off to my room. “One day, you will understand.” She would say. How long would it take for me to be old enough for her to tell me? I would think of some weird excuses for my mother’s behaviour. Maybe she was
I would sometimes think of weird excuses for my mother’s behaviour. Maybe she was an assassin, always killing her victims in her kitchen while I was playing upstairs with Lucy, and she was now cleaning up her mess. Maybe she was waiting for aliens to appear and she needed to make the kitchen absolutely spotless each time. Those were my two biggest theories. Sometimes they would keep me up late at night as I would imagine these scenarios taking place. I couldn’t actually see my mother being an assassin though. Or someone who spoke to aliens. She was just too… normal.
Non Sequitur stick: “On the following Friday, we packed our bags and planned our escape.”
I’m not sure what changed. I came home from school, expecting to sit in front of the tv to watch cartoons before starting my homework. My mother had other ideas.
“Come on Marie, get up and get your bag. We’re leaving.”
Leaving? “But mother, why are we leaving? I’ve just got home.”
“No buts, Marie. We’re leaving. I don’t want any more questions from you.” She said as she ushered me up to my room, where I found my rucksack, already packed with clothes and essentials. I moved to pick up my favourite toy, a soft plush toy of Lady from Lady and the Tramp.
“Stop dawdling and hurry up, Marie!” I hear my mother shouting from the hallway.
The Last Straw: “the time Fred went to the car wash and never came back”.
“Where is he?” my mother asked, pacing back and forth across the small, damp room. “He was meant to be back by now.” She looked at her watch again, for the fifth time in the last two minutes. I counted. There hadn’t been much to do since we moved into this place. This hovel. I’m still not entirely sure what was wrong with our house. My mother just made us move without warning. Are we in trouble? In danger? My breathing begins to get heavier as I think about this again. No, I can’t start doing this again. I close my eyes and try to focus. I start to replay Lady and the Tramp in my head. It has been my one main comfort in this ordeal. As I replay the scene outside Tony’s restaurant, I can feel my breathing become more even. That was a close one.
As I mentioned, some weird but fun ideas come out of this toolbox. From three ice lolly sticks, I managed to begin forming a narrative. From what came to mind, the story seemed to be following a young girl named Marie, whose mother was holding a secret from her. We all have our secrets, however, this secret started to catch up with her mother, forcing them to leave their home and their lives behind. I’m guessing somewhere along the way, they meet a guy called Fred. He offers to help them, but I’m thinking he leaves and reveals their location to the police or whoever is looking for them. It’s an interesting concept that would be fun to explore a bit more, and to fill in those gaps that I left between sections.
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